Confrontation

I oftentimes think about how past versions of me wouldn’t even recognize me now.

I spent years of my life as someone who hated change and hated confrontation. It hasn’t been until around the start of this blog that I began to learn to accept change.

I don’t crave change from a dissatisfied point of view, I savor and love the life I have because I know it is temporary, but I now see the beauty and good that change brings as well. I think it is healthy to feel the bittersweet emotions that come with change - it is good to allow the grief that comes with saying goodby to the past - but I find excitement in the anticipation of what good God will bring next.

This comfort I have developed with change brings a new willingness for confrontation. I no longer cling to a fear of things changing. That loss of power takes away the fear of speaking up.

The bravest thing you can do is speak the truth.

People will not always respond well to truth - especially when truth threatens the version of reality that they have created for themselves. Our society has tried desperately to eradicate truth in many ways. From corruption to filters, we live in a very distorted world.

You can try all you want, but you cannot take away the power that truth holds.

Confrontation does not mean obliterating others with your righteousness. You do not need to force truth down someone’s throat. Truth does not need to be loud to stand firm. Truth doesn’t require your protection to survive.

When you learn to rest in truth, you no longer care about the lies of others.

If you feel the need to protect or prove what you are saying, maybe it isn’t as true as you feel it is.

When you are standing on truth, it stops mattering how someone else reacts to your choices. You don’t need their approval to be at peace. You can be content whatever their response is. Their rejection no longer becomes of you, or holds any real weight.

I am still growing in my own confrontational skills. There are plenty of times where I have to remind myself of the same truth that I write, but there is a tangible change in how I interact with conflict. I don’t run with the same fear that engaging will suddenly cost my own worth. I recognize that truth is more important than comfort, and I know the person I want to be is even more bold than I am.

The person I want to be is worth the discomfort it will take to become.